Campus News

Graduate School of Education welcomes 4 associate deans

By CHARLES ANZALONE

New Graduate School of Education Dean Jaekyung Lee has appointed
four new associate deans, a move that he says will point the school
toward its goal of emphasizing interdisciplinary research and
inter-professional education from preschool through higher
education (P-20 education).

The appointments, Lee says, signify his commitment toward
turning the school’s many diverse areas of education and
research into distinct and coherent themes. Administrators will
lead changes toward inter-professional collaboration both
“horizontally”—across different fields and
professions of practice—and
“vertically”—across different levels of the
educational pipeline from preschool through college.

The school, he says, will now be focused on better integrating
research and teaching goals, whether students’ future career
goals are to be college professors, school teachers,
administrators, psychologists, counselors or librarians.

“This new appointment of associate deans in GSE signifies
our collective commitment and efforts to contribute to Realizing UB
2020 and move our school to new heights,” says Lee, professor
of counseling, school and educational psychology who was appointed
dean earlier this summer after serving as interim dean since July
2012.

“Through this emphasis on interdisciplinary research and
inter-professional P-20 education, we will break silos and work as
a team for a unified vision across the departments and
programs,” he explains.

Lee also says he hopes the new administrative structure will
work toward building better faculty mentoring and student/alumni
service, ultimately building a stronger GSE community.

“I am confident that these new leaders will help GSE
advance further on our four institutional goals: world leadership
in research and scholarship, superior teaching and learning,
students proud of their experience, and engaging partners to help
and learn.”

The four associate deans represent a range of expertise that
will help the school move toward those four goals: Dimitriadis has
expertise in academic and faculty matters; Liu has been a principal
investigator or co-principal investigator on large national
research grants; Yerrick has expertise in educational technology
applications (Apple Educator), as well as working with local
schools and educators; and Lawrence has administrative experience
in student and alumni matters, and student counseling.

In his new role, Dimitriadis will work on new ways to serve and
support faculty as they strive for the “highest standards of
scholarship in their respective fields.”

“I will also be working to ensure that all students
benefit from a fully engaged and distinctly recognized research
faculty,” he says. “I especially look forward to
helping make GSE a more integral part of UB’s broader
academic mission as we continue to work together on the UB 2020
plan.”

Liu, a professor of learning and instruction, will help build a
culture within the GSE that encourages interdisciplinary
research.

“GSE has many great scholars whose research is nationally
and internationally well-known,” says Liu. “We can
become an even greater school with more distinct research programs
and impactful research outputs.”

Yerrick, professor of science instruction in the Department of
Learning and Instruction, brings a distinguished career of
innovative online classroom instruction to his new position.

He says that UB 2020 “has many strategic goals that
require collaboration between and among UB academic units and
agencies, and institutions external to our university. GSE houses a
wealth of knowledge and resources that can be instrumental in
leading the charge to improve education for all students,” he
says.

Lawrence, clinical faculty member in the Department of
Counseling, School and Educational Psychology, currently serves as
an associate dean, but Lee has redefined and expanded her role to
include student career services and alumni-student networking.

“Creating positive feelings in our students and alumni
about their GSE educational experiences is paramount to my role as
associate dean for student affairs and administration,”
Lawrence says. “It is GSE’s responsibility to respond
to the diverse needs and interests of our students, and alumni
outreach can play a critical role in the creation of satisfactory
learning communities.”

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